Family Food Environment during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic, with its cyclical lockdown restrictions and school closures, has influenced family life. The home, work, and school environments have collided and merged to form a new normal for many families. This merging extends into the family food environment, and little is known about how families are currently navigating this landscape. The objective of the present study was to describe families’ adaptations in the family food environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Parents participated in one of 14 virtual focus groups (conducted in English and Spanish between December 2020 and February 2021). Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze the transcripts. Results: Forty-eight parents (81% Hispanic and SES diverse) participated. Five themes and one subtheme were identified around changes in eating habits and mealtime frequency, increases in snacking, family connectedness at mealtimes, and use of screens at meals. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the family food environment. Families shared how their eating habits have changed and that device usage increased at mealtimes. Some changes (e.g., weight gain) may have lasting health implications for both children and parents. Public health officials, pediatricians, and schools should work with families to resume healthy habits post pandemic.

Relationships of Family food environment with food and nutrition literacy in Chinese school-age children

Background: Eating behavior is influenced by multiple factors and understanding the interplay of these factors is necessary to promote children’s healthy food choice. This study investigated the relations of family food environment (FFE) with food and nutrition literacy (FNL) in Chinese school-age children.Methods: A total of 605 children aged 7-13 years from Grade 1 to 5, and their caregivers participated in the cross-sectional study in Beijing of China during April 2019. The FFE was assessed by the validated Family Food Environment Questionnaire for Chinese School-age Children (FFEQ-SC). For the children of Grade 3 to 5 (n=260), the FNL, including cognitive and skill domains, was assessed by Food and Nutrition Literacy Questionnaire for Chinese School-age Children (FNLQ-SC). Both FFEQ-SC and FNLQ-SC were developed firstly for Chinese school-age children who had good reliability. The anthropometric data (height and weight) was derived from local health information management system for primary schools.Results: Overall, 68.9% of the children’s families had high level of FFE. The total FNL score of 260 children at Grade 3-5 was 63.2±10.3. Comparison of children’s FNL scores among different levels of FFE showed the children with higher level of FFE, especially higher level of caregiver’s educational degree and FNL, were more likely to have higher FNL scores (P<0.05). The multivariate analysis showed the children’s total FNL score was significantly related with family caregiver (β= -0.123, P=0.04) and caregiver’s nutritional literacy (β= 0.210, P=0.002). Furthermore, the children with higher level of caregiver’s nutritional knowledge were less likely to be overweighted or obesese (OR=0.043, P=0.04).Conclusions: Family food environment, especially caregivers’ FNL, was related with children’s FNL, even the risk of overweight. These findings highlight the importance of targeting nutritional knowledge of family caregivers to facilitate the children’s FNL to maintain good health.

Relationships of Family Food Environment with Food and Nutrition Literacy in Chinese School-Age Children

Background Eating behavior is influenced by multiple factors and understanding the interplay of these factors is necessary to promote children’s healthy food choices. This study investigated the relations of family food environment (FFE) factors with food and nutrition literacy (FNL) in Chinese school-age children.Methods A total of 605 children aged 7 ~ 13 years from grade 1 to 5, and their caregivers participated in the cross-sectional study in Beijing of China during April 2019. The FFE was assessed by the validated Family Food Environment Questionnaire for Chinese School-age Children (FFEQ-SC). For the children of grade 3 to 5 (n = 260), the FNL, including cognitive and skill domains, was assessed by Food and Nutrition Literacy Questionnaire for Chinese School-age Children (FNLQ-SC). Both FFEQ-SC and FNLQ-SC were developed firstly for Chinese school-age children and had good reliability. The anthropometric data (height and weight) was derived from local health information management system for primary schools.Results Overall, 68.9% of the children’s families had higher level of FFE. The total FNL score of 260 children from grade 3–5 was 63.23 ± 10.32. Comparison of children’s FNL score among different levels of FFE showed the children with higher level of FFE, especially higher level of caregiver’s educational degree and FNL, were more likely to have significant higher FNL scores (P < 0.05). The multivariate analysis showed the children’s total FNL score was significantly related with family caregiver (β= -0.123, P = 0.04) and caregiver’s nutritional literacy (β = 0.210, P = 0.002). Furthermore, the children with higher level of caregiver’s nutritional knowledge were less likely to be overweight or obesity (OR = 0.043, P = 0.04).Conclusions and Implications: Family food environment, especially caregivers’ FNL, were significantly related with children’s FNL, even the risk of overweight. These findings highlight the importance of targeting nutritional knowledge of family caregivers to facilitate the children’s FNL to maintain good health.

Maternal Executive Function and the Family Food Environment: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Individuals with lower executive function (EF) have poorer quality dietary intake and are more likely to experience obesity, in part because of their limited ability to resist impulses and implement routines that promote healthy eating. It is unknown whether these negative impacts of lower EF among parents extend to the parenting practices and routines that support children’s healthy eating and weight. The purpose of the current study is to examine associations between mothers’ EF and characteristics of the family food environment that support children’s healthy eating.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in August 2017 via Amazon Mechanical Turk of US-based mothers of 2 to 9-year-old children (N=492). EF was measured using the Behavior Rating of Executive Function-Adult Version. Family food environment characteristics were measured via self-report surveys. Standardized, linear regression models were used to examine covariate-adjusted associations and the potential for different associations between mothers’ EF and family food environment characteristics by family socio-demographics. Results: Low EF among mothers was associated with less engagement in positive food-related parenting practices and less presence of healthy family food environment characteristics including providing family meals, implementing consistent mealtime schedules and structure, and avoiding using food to regulate children’s emotions. Few differences in these associations were observed by mothers’ educational attainment, household income-to-needs ratio, or child age.Conclusions and Implications: Maternal EF is associated with several features of the family food environment. Lower EF among mothers may interfere with their ability to implement recommending parenting practices that support children’s healthy eating and weight.

Family Food Environment and Child Eating Behavior in a Private School of Abu Dhabi

Aim: Dietary habits developed during childhood and continued through adulthood. Children’s eating behaviours should be monitorining to avoid possible nutritional deficiencies which have been found to be strongly related to the development of future disease such as obesity, diabetes type 2 and others. The main aim of this study is to explore the relationship between family food environment and the eating behavior during dinnertime among children aged 4 to 6 years old in Abu Dhabi. A cross-sectional study was carried out that examined the relationship between family food environment and child’s eating behaviour around dinnertime.Methods: 61 families participated in the study with their children aged 4-6 years old from a private school. They completed a questionnaire that included questions about demographics, eating behaviour and food environment.Results: 82% of the mothers were reported to be responsible for feeding the children. Most of the families had dinner together three or more times a week. Half of the children got a high score in the child’s eating behaviour scale, indicating that they had positive eating behaviour. The results also showed that children of highly educated mothers were more likely to have positive eating behaviour, compared to children of mothers with lower education (p < .05). There was a significant positive correlation between modelling of eating and child eating behaviour ( Pearson’s r = .56, p < .01), and a significant negative correlation between pressure to eat and child eating behaviour (Pearson’s r = -.35, p < .01).Conclusion: This study is in line with other studies showing that aspects in the family food environment have an influence on eating behaviour of children. Educating parents on food environment and its impact on child behaviour is crucial in order to make them able to develop feeding strategies most likely to benefit children's’ health.

Psycho-Social Determinants of Obesity

In modern India, Obesity is a prevailing health condition among the youngsters. It is a state where an individual has an excess accumulation of fat in his/her body. Overeating and physical inactivity are the major purported causes of obesity. Obesity is largely affected by eating patterns, sleeping patterns, lack of exercise, addictions, etc. This study examined the relationship between personal eating habits, family & neighbourhood food environment and obesity. For the objective of the study, a survey in form of scales was randomly carried on 180 college going students aged between 18 to 25 years belonging to different economic status about their personal habits and food environment (family and neighbourhood). Demographic variables like gender, age and type of family of the respondent was also taken into account. Data was analysed and it was found that socio-economic status had a significant effect on Personal Eating Habits, Family Food Environment, Neighbourhood Food Environment and BMI. Gender had a significant effect only on BMI. Obesity was positively related to unhealthy personal eating habits and unhealthy neighbourhood food environment. Healthy Family Food Environment had a negative impact on obesity. The potential influence of psychological & social factors affecting physical inactivity on obesity warrants further study.